James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

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or by email:gurneyjourney (at) gmail.comSorry, I can't give personal art advice or portfolio reviews. If you can, it's best to ask art questions in the blog comments.

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All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

In an earlier post I mentioned that a good way to develop reference for figure work is to pose yourself in front of a mirror and make a charcoal study on tone paper.

For this National Geographic illustration I needed to show a triumphant Kushite king accepting the homage of vanquished princes in Egypt in 724 BCE.

I first met with the project archaeologist Dr. Timothy Kendall in the basement of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He showed me primary-source drawings of the snake headdress, sandals, wing corselet, and transparent garment worn by Kushite royalty.

I wrapped myself in a sheer curtain to simulate the costume. I set up the tone paper on an easel and acted out the pose, looking at the reflection in a full-length mirror mounted on a door.

Even though I’m not exactly the right type for the character I was portraying, I was only looking for the basic structure of the pose. I could get the Nubian features from other sources.

I recommend the method for three reasons. It’s often faster than shooting photo reference. It gets you immediately away from the photographic look. And it forces you to begin interpreting the pose, making artistic decisions that give your result more coherence and impact.

Mirror studies have always been a favorite method for animators acting out facial expressions and gestures. For faces, you can use a medium sized mirror hung in front of your work table.
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For a previous GJ post on installing a full-length mirror, link.

Here's a selected list of articles I've illustrated for National Geographic:

The mirror IS a good alternative to photography -- while it is limiting somewhat in terms of poses, the mirror focuses your concentration and observation in an active way -- somehow working from photos seems more passive.

But I really find the process by which you gathered your reference the most interesting -- how you turned the archaeological into the artistic.Maybe in a future post you could dissect one of your paintings and describe the "journey" you went on to gather all the reference -- especially if it involves museum visits (maybe thats the point of the Step-by-step article Shane mentioned).

Thanks for the Nat Geo illos list -- I'll have to go through my old mags and see if I have any.

Daroo, yes, Shane is referring to a 10-page article with 34 illustrations that analyzes the making of this one painting in great detail. It's in the November/December 1990 issue of Step-by-Step Graphics Magazine.

I am also grateful to Leif Peng for all the great material he has shared on Today's Inspiration: http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/

Frank--you have put your finger on the shortcoming of mirror studies--you're locked into a fixed eye level (unless you tilt the mirror) and certain head positions (unless you use multiple mirrors).

Pat, yes, the drawing hand has to be drawn from memory, but that's been true of a lot of self-portraits.